2015 Judges

Emily Beever

NUS Scotland is the national union of college and university students’ associations. Before her role at NUS Scotland, Emily studied German and International Relations at the University of Aberdeen and then became a sabbatical officer for two years at Aberdeen University Students’ Association. Firstly she held the position of President for Charities and Community, a fundraising and community outreach role, and last year she was Student President. During her time as a sabbatical officer she focused on a variety of issues including student parents, intersectional women in leadership and making equality and diversity an institutional priority.

Janice Burns

Janice Burns has been at The National for almost a year. She previously worked at the Daily Record and was campaign journalist of the year at the Scottish Press Awards last year for her dangerous dogs campaign. Social justice – including rights for women, asylum seekers, disabled people and those in poverty – is high on her agenda. During her lengthy career, Janice has worked for local, regional and national newspapers across Scotland including the Scottish Sun and Scottish Express. She has also been involved in many charity and health campaigns, helping to raise funds and awareness.

Jenny Kemp

Zero Tolerance is a charity working to tackle the causes of men’s violence against women. Jenny joined Zero Tolerance in Oct 2007. Before joining Zero Tolerance, she worked for the Equal Opportunities Commission in an education policy role. She’s also worked for a student union, a health charity, and an education funding body. She has a degree in law and politics and has a long-standing interest in how laws and policy shape society.

Emma Ritch

Engender is a feminist NGO working on women’s social, economic, and political equality in Scotland. Prior to this Emma was manager of Close the Gap for nine years, and worked extensively on women’s labour market participation. She is a member of the Scottish Women’s Budget Group, and is acting chair of the Scottish Human Rights Consortium management committee. She is vice-chair of Rape Crisis Scotland’s board, and a member of Glasgow Rape Crisis Centre’s board. She is also a trustee of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, and the treasurer of the Women 5050 campaign.

Richard Walker

Richard Walker was editor of the Sunday Herald for 10 years and founding editor of The National newspaper, which published its first edition in November last year. He is currently consulting editor with The National. He’s been a journalist for 40 years and has also worked at Scotland on Sunday, The Scotsman and The Daily Record.

Ben Wray

The Common Weal is campaign group and think-tank campaigning for social and economic equality in Scotland. Ben has just finished work on a Common Weal book of ideas for Scotland from 2016-21 (published in October) which contains ideas about how to tackle gender inequality and violence against women. Ben also writes for CommonSpace, a digital news and views service, and a place to network, share ideas and discuss the issues affecting Scotland.

Talat Yaqoob

Talat is leading the Women 5050 campaign for legislation that would mean all parties have to put forward at least 50% women candidates in the Scottish Parliament and Council elections, as well as for similar legislation for public boards. Talat has been working in campaigning and learning and development roles throughout her career. She has worked on tackling violence against women and supporting young women and girls. She has campaigned on international development, education rights and mental health. She writes a regular feminist blog and feminist commentary for an online magazine.